You're right about waiting. It sometimes is hard in school since the Deaf child gets the question after all the others so they often don't get the opportunity to answer in class. Timed tests are hard for the same reason. I've enjoyed working at the high school and had good refreshers courses in Algebra, Earth Science, World History and English lit (Romeo and Juliet was not fun to interpret!)

Funny, I was just talking to a friend who is going from being extremely hard of hearing to deaf. Says she wants to start out with a lip-reading rather than learning sign because no one she knows knows ASL.

Two hints for anyone who is dealing with someone who can't hear well, or is learning English as a second language, Look the person in the face. When you speak, most of us have facial expressions and body language that help getting a concept across. So many people mutter into their chest. Speak distinctively (not in a way that communicates frustration or that you think the person is stupid), directly face-to-face.

I was told many years ago, when I met, socially, a profoundly deaf person, that you (and I was told many times since, when dealing with people who couldn't speak English), you always look at the person who you are having the conversation with, not the person doing the translating.

I originally wanted to teach the deaf but couldn't afford the colleges that offered that back in the '70s. I found a little orange manual alphabet chart on the ground as a kid. I used to practice spelling words all through school. I've done some book studies, taken couple community college classes (one with a deaf teacher ). I've got a fair vocabulary for signing but never had anyone to practice with so I'm useless for actually communicating. So now I just sign music in my pew at church mostly because it adds another element of expression during worship for me. I learned Signed English but I still have to pay attention to concepts not just literal wording.

I originally wanted to teach the deaf but couldn't afford the colleges that offered that back in the '70s. I found a little orange manual alphabet chart on the ground as a kid. I used to practice spelling words all through school. I've done some book studies, taken couple community college classes (one with a deaf teacher ). I've got a fair vocabulary for signing but never had anyone to practice with so I'm useless for actually communicating. So now I just sign music in my pew at church mostly because it adds another element of expression during worship for me. I learned Signed English but I still have to pay attention to concepts not just literal wording.

A good friend of mine at church does the same thing, and for the same reason.